Engineered-to-order products are products that are manufactured or built by a supplier according to a customer's requirements or specifications. Procurement of engineered-to-order parts or components by manufacturers is a time-consuming and labor-intensive process. The supplier and customer may need to communicate frequently to be certain the customer's requirements are met. As a result, the procurement or ordering cycle may last as long as 16 days.
Typically, the procurement or ordering cycle begins when a user or requestor for the customer completes a purchase order requisition and prepares for submission to a supplier drawings that set forth the requirements and specifications for the engineered product. This process may take one to three days. Another one to two days may be spent in a review or approval process to confirm that the user or requestor's request is complete and accurate. Next, the buyer for the customer may spend one to three days preparing and sending requests for quotations (RFQ) to suppliers who may be able to fulfill the request. In many instances the drawings for the engineered-to-order product are delivered by U.S. mail or another delivery service. Delays in the delivery of drawings further increase the cycle time. The suppliers may require two to four days to review the RFQ and submit quotations responsive to the request. The buyer may then require one to three days to review the submitted quotations to select a supplier and complete the purchase order with the selected supplier information. Finally, another day may be needed to submit the purchase order to the supplier and send a confirmation to the supplier.
The long procurement or ordering cycle increases the costs of obtaining engineered-to-order products. Therefore, there is a need for a system and method that reduces the procurement or ordering cycle time for engineered-to-order products, and that facilities a buyer's workflow in managing the purchase of engineered-to-order products.